New Pony, Different Story
by OmegaPony12
Summary: Ryan has had a relatively normal life. He wishes that things were a little more interesting, and boy, does it come true. Ripped out of his life and pulled into Equestria, he must find a way to return home, or learn to adjust to this new world.
1. Unexpected Events

**Yo, What's up people? I'm here, writing my first MLP FanFic! I honestly don't have anything to say, so...**

**Enjoy the first chapter!**

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Chapter 1: Unexpected Events

**Ryan's POV**

I grumbled as the alarm clock buzzed in my ear. "Mmmph.…stupid… fucking…. clock…" I put all my effort into moving my hand over the snooze button, and let it fall to silence the irritating noise. I then proceeded to pull the covers over my head to block out the sun shining into my room. Why the hell were my curtains open? I shut them every night. Ugh… Who cares… too… tired… I'm going back to bed…

"TIME TO WAKE UP!" Oh god. Why is my mom trying to get me up this early? There's nothing going on this morning… at least I'm pretty sure there isn't. It's hard to keep track of my schedule with all the things going on lately…

"Meeehhhh… Go away… I want to sleep… It's Saturday…" I heard her walking closer. She better not do what I think she's gonna do…

"Come on! I'm getting you up early every weekend now, because you need to get used to doing it all the time. You have too much trouble waking up on the weekdays, so this might help. Now I'll give you to the count of three. One… Two…" Ugh. Fine.

"I'm going; don't take the covers off me!" It's always freezing in my room, more so in the morning, so this is the worst thing she can threaten me with. I sat up, stretching a bit, and rubbing my eyes to adjust to the light. Dragging myself out of bed, I pulled the covers around me and walked over to my dresser. I usually take a shower first, but I had taken one the night before. Looking in the mirror, I saw the face of a tired 15 year old. I had a large mess of shaggy brown hair on my head, as well as light brown eyes. I wasn't too tall, but I wasn't that short either. Basically, I was your average teenager. After getting dressed, I went downstairs to grab something to eat. I hadn't had much food last night, and my body hated me for it. Rummaging through the fridge, I managed to come up with a chocolate chip muffin. Yum. I pretty much ate the entire thing in one bite, satisfying my hunger for a while. Not really knowing what to do with my day, I went and sat on the sofa to relax. The week was hectic enough, and I like to take advantage of the time I had for myself to do nothing. Little did I know, my life was about to become A LOT more complicated…

**Twilight's POV**

"Well, Ms. Sparkle?" I sat there, almost paralyzed by the nervousness that was running though my body. The four professors stood there, looking at me in a very intimidating way. They expected me to hatch a DRAGON EGG. What do I do?! Trying my best not to completely panic, I took a few steps back from the egg. Come on Twilight, you can do this. You can do this… Ok. Close your eyes and focus. Concentrate. Even with all my willpower, nothing but a few sparks came out of my horn. I tried again, but nothing happened at all this time. Looking up towards the teachers, I could see that they were losing their patience. One of them looked at her watch. "We don't have all day." I had to do something, and fast! I tried over and over again, but to no avail. Even when it finally seemed like I had done it, it ended in nothing but another failure. Ready to give up, I sighed, and looked up at the professors.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time…" I closed my eyes in shame. I heard them writing things on their clipboards using magic. Just as I went to get up and leave, I as startled by a loud boom that came from outside. I felt a great power surfacing, and my horn started glowing. A bright beam of light was sent towards the egg, causing it to hatch. Before I could get the chance to be excited, I completely lost control of my magic. I couldn't really tell what was going on, only that there was quite a bit of chaos being created. I couldn't do anything to stop what was going on, only release all of the magic that was stored inside of me. Suddenly, I felt a hoof being placed on my shoulder. Turning my head, I was shocked to see Princess Celestia standing right behind me! The flow of magic was somehow cut off at that point, and I was honestly glad. All the chaos that I had created was fixed.

"Twilight Sparkle!" I was worried all over again. I had just caused a bunch of trouble for all the ponies present. Eying the roof, I also saw a large hole. I'm pretty sure that wasn't here when I came in… I prepared to apologize, but was cut off. "You have a very special gift! I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities!" I was in shock at the praise she was giving me.

"Huh?" She continued on.

"But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study."

"HUH?"

"Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school!" WHAT?!

"HUH?!" She looked at me with a smile.

"Well?" I turned to look at my parent's reactions to all this. They nodded their heads furiously, astonished at what the Princess had offered me.

"YEEEEEESSSS!" I jumped a few feet in the air out of excitement. She laughed and put her hoof up to get my attention.

"One more thing, Twilight." I was confused at what she was saying.

"More?!" Gravity took its effect, and I fell to the ground, a little dazed. I saw her point to my flank, and I was suddenly even more excited.

"My cutie mark!" It was a large pink star, with little white stars surrounding it. I jumped up, and hopped around in circles, happier than I had ever been. "Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" I couldn't believe all the amazing things that had happened to me today. My parents started laughing at my reaction.

"Hey, wait a minute. Who is that?" I stopped hopping for a second to see what the professors were looking at. Lying on the floor, in the corner of the room, there was a colt. Although I couldn't really get a good look at him, I was pretty sure he wasn't moving. Did… did I do that…? The worry spread thought the room. "Oh Celestia, is he alright?!" One of the teachers trotted over to him, and felt his chest with his hoof.

"He's OK… just unconscious." A sigh of relief was shared between everypony. I moved a little closer to him. The first thing I noticed was that he was a unicorn. He had a peach colored coat, with a shaggy brown mane. He was wearing a red jacket with a hood on it, as well as a pair of blue pants. He looked about a year or two older than me. He was definitely knocked out cold. I had no idea how that had happened, but I hope it wasn't my magic. This wasn't my major concern though. I know that he wasn't here before I had hatched the egg, and I hadn't seen anypony else come in afterwards. So… where DID he come from?

* * *

"How long do you think until he wakes up?" It had been about an hour since the strange colt had appeared, and we had taken him back to our house. He was still unconscious, so he'd been put into one of our spare beds. I honestly felt responsible for him, mostly because it was probably my outburst of magic that knocked him out in the first place. I insisted that I be there to apologize when he woke up. My mother looked at me and sighed.

"I don't know Twilight… Hopefully soon, so we can get this whole mess sorted out." She wasn't that happy that I had forced her to do this. She was also concerned for his wellbeing, as anypony would be, but she didn't see the reason that we had to take him back to the house. Looking back into the guest room, I saw him lying there. The clothes he was wearing when we'd found him were folded and placed on the dresser. They had been removed to check if he had any injuries, but he was perfectly healthy, save for a bump on his head. His cutie mark was what intrigued me the most. I would definitely have to ask him about that later. Lost in my thoughts, I almost didn't hear the rustling coming from his bed.

"Ugh… My head hurts something FIERCE. What happened…?" He was rubbing his head with his hoof. I was about to say hello, but he continued talking to himself. "Wait… What happened to my hand…?" He looked down at himself. His eyes opened to the size of plates. "What happened to ME?!" He looked up to finally notice me and my mother standing there. It seemed as a good a time as any to introduce myself.

"Hello! My name is Twilight Sparkle! What's your name?" He stared at me in shock.

"B-but that's not p-possible…!" He then had a revelation of some sort. His face reddened. "WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES. GIVE ME MY CLOTHES NOW." He seemed really embarrassed about something, thought I didn't know what it was. My mother simply obliged to his request. "Now please, leave the room for a moment… please?" I was confused.

"Why? And why are you being so bossy?" He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Look, I'm just in a little bit of shock at the moment. Can you just… please leave the room for about a minute? Please?" My mom looked at me.

"Come on Twilight. Do as the poor colt says. He's probably just trying to process what happened." She started shoving me out of the room. Before closing the door, she took a quick look back inside.

"Just call out to us when you're ready for us to come back in, OK?

"Sure. Thank you."

**Ryan's POV**

Twilight's mother closed the door. Well, that just happened. I just met Twilight Sparkle. A fictional, multicolored, magical pony (Eheh, I MIGHT be a SLIGHT brony…). I'm a now colt. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! This kind of stuff happens in FanFiction, not real life! I looked down at the clothes that she had brought over to the bed. It was my red hoodie, a white t-shirt, and a pair of jeans. They were the clothes that I had been wearing before taking my nap, but they had been changed in size to fit me better. Struggling a bit, I fit them onto myself. As I did this, I noticed something that shocked me quite a bit. On my flank, was Twilight's cutie mark! What was even stranger was that it was only on one side, and not the other. My train of thought was disrupted by a knocking on the door.

"Are you almost done in there?" It was Twilight.

"Yeah, you can come in now!" They walked in slowly, and sat down on one of the couches. Twilight looked at me.

"So, now that you've had some time to think, do you think we could get your name?" Ooh, this is a good opportunity to do something I've wanted to do for a while; change my name. It's not that I don't like my name; it's just kind of boring…

"Sure! My name is Leonidas Craft, though I'd prefer you call me Leo." She nodded.

"Now that we've been formally introduced, would you mind answering a few questions?" Oh boy, questioning time. This should be fun trying to explain where I came from…

"I guess you have the right to do that, seeing as I appeared out of nowhere, heh…"

"Yeah, that would be the first thing we're wondering. Where DID you come from?" Here we go…

"What if I told you that I came from a different universe where ponies can't talk, and magic doesn't exist? To top it off, I'm not even a pony." I think that I heard their jaws hit the floor. Twilight just started stuttering, trying to comprehend what I had just told her.

"What? Wait, WHAT?" I figured that I'd blow their minds a bit more.

"Also, I know all about this world, and will happen in the future, because you and everybody else here is from a television show that I watch. A television show is like a visual story on a piece of glass, by the way." Twilight just fell over from information overload. Her mother just laughed nervously.

"You're kidding, right? This is just a joke! Heh, heh…" She saw my serious expression. "You aren't joking, are you?" I shook my head. She closed her eyes and muttered under her breath. "Oh sweet Celestia, what have we gotten ourselves into…" Looking back at me, she asked me another question. "Ok, let's just move on from that question, at least for the time being. Second question: How do you have the same cutie mark as my daughter? No two ponies should be able to have the same cutie mark." Ah, they must have seen it when they took my clothes off.

"I honestly don't know, partly due to the fact that I just became a pony today. I was just confused as you are. Actually, I have a question for you. Is it possible for a pony to only have a cutie mark on one side of their body? Because I notice that you have one on both sides, while I do not."

"No, before you or Twilight, It has never happened before." My eyes widened.

"Wait, did you say Twilight only has her cutie mark on one of her flanks?!" She nodded, and gestured to Twilight. She did a full 360, and there appeared to only be one cutie mark. "Well, that's different than how the story goes…" Twilight's mother was about to say something else, but somebody else barged into the room, who I guessed was Twilight's father. He was levitating a scroll in the air with his magic. He walked over to me.

"Apparently, this is for you." He levitated it over to me, and dropped it on the bed. I tried to pick it up with my hooves, but this proved to be a much tougher task than sliding on a t-shirt and pants. After failing to do so quite a few times, I looked back to Twilight's father.

"Heh, it's a long story… Would you mind…?" I nodded my head at the letter. He got the message, and brought it up in front of me where I could see it. I read it out loud.

"_Hello, this is Princess Celestia. I would like you to come and meet me at the castle, there are a few things I would like to discuss with you. I hope to see you soon."_ I looked up at them. "That's what it says." I can't say that I'm really surprised that she wants to speak with me. The ponies just looked at me in shock.

"The princess wants to speak with you?!" I shrugged.

"Well, I'm a mysterious colt who appeared out of mid-air, and also has the same cutie mark as the most powerful unicorn to ever grace Equestria with her presence. I'd think she's probably a little curious, don't you think so?" Twilight blushed a little.

"I wouldn't say _most_ powerful…" My god she was cute. I guess everything looked cute when it was cartoony though…

"Well, I guess that we'd better get going…" They all looked at me funny.

"What do you mean, we?" I chuckled.

"Heh, do you think that I have any idea of how to get to the castle?" Twilight's mother looked at the ground.

"Right, should have thought of that…" She looked back up at me. "But why do we have to be the ones to take you to her?"

"Because I'm pretty sure that little Twilight here feels quite a bit guilty about zapping me out of my life, and bringing me here in the first place."

"Eep!" Twilight looked a little embarrassed. "H-He's right… I want to help him, because I'm probably the one who caused all this…" Her mother rubbed her head with her hoof.

"Ok, fine. We'll bring you to the castle…" I nodded.

"Thank you for your assistance." I tried to get out of the bed and stand up. The moment of truth. Will I be able to walk on four legs? I collapsed to the floor. The answer isss… no. Sheepishly, I looked up at the ponies staring at me. "Eheh, a little help please?"

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"Hello, Mr. Mysterious. Would you be so kind as to tell me your name, and perhaps a bit about yourself?" I was currently standing in the throne room, along with Princess Celestia. Twilight's family had helped me learn to walk on four legs, so that I didn't look like a bumbling buffoon walking around town. I had met Twilight's brother, Shining Armor, and he was a cool guy. The group of us had made our way to the castle. We were stopped by the royal guards at the entrance, but after showing them the letter that the Princess had sent me, they let us through. When we had finally made it to where Celestia was residing, she asked the others to wait outside for a short while, wanting a little privacy. Now, I was focusing on the matters at hand. I kind of thought that I should tell Celestia my real name, just in case she could see through my lies.

"No problem. My name is Ryan Rendace. Don't tell the others, because I told them that my name was Leonidas Craft. I don't really like my name that much, so I figured this would be a good time to change it. I come from the planet called earth, which I'm pretty sure is located on a different plane of reality than Equestria is. I am not a pony, but a member of a species called humans." She nodded.

"I thought that you seemed a bit different…" She wasn't that surprised, but I guess that she's seen some even crazier stuff in her long lifetime.

"Do you know how I could have gotten here? I don't really understand that much about magic." She thought for a moment.

"Since you appeared after Twilight's chaotic magic, I would have to say that is the cause." I was still confused.

"But didn't everything that Twilight cause get fixed after her stream of magic was stopped?" She looked at me suspiciously.

"How did you know that? I haven't said anything about it." I sighed, and explained about the whole 'Knowing the future' thing to her. She still wasn't surprised. I admire her ability to keep composure with all of the crazy things I was telling her.

"Anyway, can you answer my original question?"

"Even though the chaos that Twilight's magic caused was reversed, you might know from what you've told me that there was still a very big hole in the roof. That's because her magic only caused the baby dragon to grow. It didn't directly cause the hole. The same thing applies to you. I would have to guess that in the midst of all that was going on, an interdimensional portal opened up that you just happened to fall through. Her magic didn't CAUSE you to get here, it only opened the portal. When the magic was reversed, the portal closed, leaving you stuck here. As to why you became a pony, I have no idea."

"So what should I do now? Is there any way to get me back home?" She shook her head.

"The magic that was used to bring you here wasn't any spell that I know of, so I don't know if there's any way to open another portal." Well, that's a bit depressing. I don't know if I am really OK with the idea of staying here forever. I don't exactly love my life back on earth, but I'm not exactly ready to give it up. "I was actually wondering something… What would you say to becoming my personal student, along with Twilight?" I wasn't expecting that. At all.

"ME?" She nodded. "But… why?"

"I can sense a very powerful magical aura emanating off of you. Since it doesn't look like you'll be leaving Equestria anytime soon, you need to learn how to control it. Also, considering you have the same cutie mark as Twilight, I would have to guess that your special talent is magic." Hmm… she's probably right… I sighed.

"I accept your offer." She smiled.

"I'm glad. Now, where will you be staying?" Oh. I hadn't really thought about that when I had agreed… "If you want, I can arrange for you to stay with Twilight." I nodded.

"Yes, that sounds good." We talked for about fifteen more minutes. I told her about some of the things in my world. She found much of it quite interesting. Once we were done speaking, she accompanied me out of the room, where Twilight and her family were waiting. They bowed when the Princess entered the room. She looked at Twilight.

"Twilight, I'd like to meet your fellow student." Her eyes widened.

"HUH?!"


	2. Elements of Harmony: Part 1

**Yo, It's Ryan here, with another chapter! This is officially the longest fucking chapter I've ever written for anything; ever. Oh god, my head hurts. I'm going to go lie down for a bit...**

**Enjoy Chapter 2!**

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**Chapter 2: Friendship Is Magic; Part 1**

**Ryan's POV**

Five years. Five years had passed since I'd been straight zapped out of my life, and into a new one. Five years that I'd been Celestia's personal student, along with Twilight Sparkle. Five years of searching for a spell that would send me home. At this point, I think that I've accepted the fact that I might never be able to get back. That didn't stop me from looking though. I was currently in the school library, reading through a book on transportation spells. I was wearing the same red hoodie and jeans I had come here with. I was pretty much as tall as I would get when the transformation occurred, so they still fit me. I don't care how long I've been here, or what other ponies think of me, I'm not walking around without clothes, end of story. I heard someone walking past me. Looking up, I saw Spike headed towards the door. He was holding a small red gift box. Throughout the years, we'd become good friends, both of us being guys. "Hey Spike, where you going? A party?" He nodded.

"Moondancer is holding a one, and I was going to drop by." I nodded.

"Well, see ya later. Hope you enjoy yourself!" He smiled, and went to open the door. Just as he was about to, the door swung open, and sent him flying. Before he hit the ground, I caught him with my magic, and put him down slowly. He looked at me.

"Thanks Leo." I grinned.

"No problem." I looked back to the door, to see it wide open, with Twilight standing there. She was glancing back and forth.

"Spike! Spiiiike!"

"I'm right here Twilight! Jeez…" She looked at him.

"There you are. Quick, find me that old copy of predictions and prophecies." She galloped to the nearest bookcase. "She then noticed the red box that Spike was holding. "What is that for?" He looked down at it.

"It's a gift for Moondancer. I was just headed over to her party." Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Oh Spike, you know we don't have time for things like that." He groaned.

"But we're on a break!" Twilight ignored him, and started pulling countless books off the shelves, looking for the one she'd mentioned. Spike sighed, and walked over to one of the shelves on the other side of the room. He climbed the ladder, and grabbed a book from the top. In the meantime, Twilight was just getting aggravated that she couldn't find it. She yelled in frustration.

"SPIIIKE!" He called down to her from the top of the ladder.

"It's over here!" Looking up at him she used her magic to bring it down to her, taking Spike with it. I cringed as he slammed face first into the floor. "Ow…" She took a look at the cover, and then smiled.

"Ah!" She trotted off on the other direction, leaving Spike to clean up the mess that she'd made with the books. I stood up, and went over to him.

"Here, I'll help." He nodded.

"Thanks again… I really appreciate the help you give me all the time." I shrugged.

"What are friends for?" I picked him up using my magic, and levitated him to where each book needed to go. Behind me, Twilight was saying something about the mare in the moon. I wasn't listening to her rambling, but I knew what she was talking about. It was two days before the summer sun festival, and this is the time period in which the first episode of 'Friendship Is Magic' takes place. When I had first gotten here, I'd written down all of the events from the show that I could remember, so that I'd know when the time came. I reviewed it every now and then, just to refresh my memory. Celestia had told me a long time ago to make sure to not reveal anything about the future, even to her. She feared that it might change the outcome. I halfheartedly listened to what she was saying, until she seemed to have made a revelation.

"SPIKE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?" I was startled by her sudden yelling, and accidently dropped Spike. Luckily, Twilight caught him on her back. She had already plopped a quill and scroll into his hand. "Take a note please! To the princess." He slid off her tail like a slide.

"Okeydokey!" He stood there, ready to write.

"My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to believe that we are on the precipice of disaster." Spike cut her off.

"Hold on, hold on. Preci… preci…" He looked to Twilight for help.

"Threshold?" He failed to spell that one too.

"Uh… Brink?" He just looked completely lost. She sighed in annoyance.

"UGH, That something really bad is about to happen!" Spike nodded and continued writing. "For you see, the mythical mare in the moon is, in fact, Nightmare Moon! She is about to return to Equestria and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure that this terrible prophecy does not come true! I await your quick response. Signed, Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle."

"Got it!"

"Great! Send it."

"Now?" She looked confused as to why he'd even ask.

"Of course!" Spike looked uneasy.

"I don't know Twilight… Princess Celestia is really busy getting ready for the summer sun festival! And it's like the day after tomorrow! Back me up here Leo!" I just shrugged. I didn't feel like messing up the space time continuum. At least not today.

"That's just it Spike! The day after tomorrow is the 1000th year of the summer sun celebration! It's imperative that the princess is told right away!" He just sighed, and sent it using his fire breath. The magical smoke flew out the window.

"There! Happy?" She grinned.

"Yes. Very." A few seconds later, spike burped out another scroll. Twilight was smug.

"See? I knew she'd want to take immediate action!" Spike picked it up and started to read.

"My dearest and most faithful student Twilight, you know that I value your diligence, and that I trust you completely. But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books." Twilight was appalled.

"What?!"

Twilight, Spike, and I were sitting in a chariot being pulled by two Pegasus stallions. Spike was reading the rest of the letter aloud for a second time. "My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I am sending you to supervise the preparations for the summer sun celebration in this year's location, Ponyville. Also, I have an even more essential task for you to complete; make some friends! PS: If Leo wants to come, that's fine as well." She just sighed. While Twilight wasn't excited for the trip to Ponyville, I sure was. I hadn't visited anywhere out of Canterlot during my time in Equestria, so this should be a nice change of pace. Spike tried to cheer her up.

"Look on the bright side Twilight! The princess arranged for you to stay in a library! Doesn't that make you happy?" She suddenly perked up.

"Yes, yes it does. You know why? Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return!" Spike seemed confused.

"But when will you have time to make friends like the princess said?" Twilight just rolled her eyes.

"She **said** to check on the preparations. I am her student, and will do my royal duties, but the fate of Equestria does not rely on me making friends!" Oh, how wrong you are Twilight. We had finally arrived, and the Pegasi landed in the middle of town. Twilight hopped out, and I followed after. She thanked the guards for their help, and turned to face me. "So Leo, what are you going to do? The princess didn't say that you have to help me with the check." I shrugged.

"I think that I'm just going to tag along with you. Perhaps we'll meet some nice ponies along the way." I saw a bright shade of pink headed our way. "Like that one." I nodded my head towards the pink pony trotting towards us, who I remembered from the show as Pinkie Pie.

"Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about!" Pinkie stopped in front of us, looking at us with a smile. "Come on Twilight, just try!" Twilight nervously looked at Pinkie.

"Um… Hello?" Pinkie jumped up in the air, and with a loud gasp, she was gone. Twilight looked at Spike.

"Well THAT was interesting alright…" Spike sighed. I put my front leg around her neck.

"Don't worry Twi, that's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Nothing unusual." Twilight just rolled her eyes and started walking. Me and spike followed behind.

* * *

"Summer Sun Celebration official overseer's checklist; Number 1: Banquet Preparations, Sweet Apple Acres!" We had arrived at our first stop; Applejack's farm. As we walked through the gate, I saw an orange pony with a cowboy hat. She took off towards one of the closer apple trees, and bucked it hard enough with her hind legs to make every last apple fall off into the bucket place below. Twilight sighed and lowered her head to the ground, obviously unhappy.

"Let's just get this over with…" Walking over to Applejack, Twilight greeted her in a business like fashion. "Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle-" She was interrupted by Applejack. She had grabbed Twilight's hoof, and started to shake it extremely fast, making Twilight jitter up and down.

"Well howdy do Miss Twilight! A pleasure makin' your acquaintance! I'm Applejack! We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!"'

"Friends? A-cc-t-u-all-y, I…" She was cut off by Applejack a second time.

"So, what can I do ya for?" She had let go of Twilight's hoof, but it was still shaking. Spike grabbed it, and it stopped. Spike giggled a bit, and Twilight just grumbled. Before she could get the chance to say anything, Applejack noticed me. "Oh, didn't see ya there! What's your name?" She reached out her hoof for me to shake it, instead of just grabbing mine. I smiled, and obliged.

"My name's Leonidas, Leonidas Craft. I'd prefer you just call me Leo though, It's easier." She smiled back.

"Well, nice ta meetcha as well, Mister Leo!" She turned back to Twilight. Twilight's eye was twitching a bit, probably from annoyance. She took a deep breath, and calmed herself down. Regaining her composure, she looked back at Applejack.

"Well, as I was about to say, I am actually here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration; I assume you're in charge of the food?"

"We sure as sugar are! Would ya care to sample some?"

"Well, as long as it doesn't take TOO long…" Applejack was gone in a flash. She rang a metal triangle with a stick.

"SOUPS ON EVERYPONY!" I stepped a good three feet away from Twilight. She looked confused.

"What are you-" She was cut off as a stampede of apple family members carried her and Spike over to a wooden table. I walked over to the table to join them. She looked angry with me. "You could have warned me you know!" I smirked.

"But what would be the fun in that?" She was about to retaliate with her own snide response, but was cut off by Applejack.

"Allow me to introduce y'all to the Apple family!"

"Thanks, but I really need to hurry…" She was ignored, and the introductions begun.

"This here's Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious…" She went on and on, each member of the family bringing their own special pastry to the table, until the pile was gigantic. I didn't really recognize any of the ponies she named until the end of the list, being Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith. The old pony was still asleep, and Applejack had to wake her up. "Up and at em Granny! We've got guests!" Granny Smith stood up slowly, and mumbled out things that were too random to really decipher. Applejack put her forelegs around Twilight and my shoulders.

"Why I'd say they're already part o' the family!" Twilight spat out the apple that the orange pony had shoved into her mouth. She laughed nervously.

"Okkaaay, well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way!" I could see all of the family was saddened by this. Apple Bloom looked at Twilight with ginormous puppy dog eyes.

"But aren't you gonna stay for brunch?" It was hard for Twilight to look the filly in the eye.

"I'm-" I cut her off.

"Of course, we'd love to!" There was a collective cheer thought the crowd. Twilight gave me the stink eye, but I just continued to smirk as the ponies dispersed to set up for the meal.

* * *

"Food's all taken care of; next, is weather!" Walking off from the delicious meal we'd just eaten, we were headed back into the main part of town for our next stop. Twilight just groaned and kept her head low.

"I ate too much pie…" While she was reluctant at first, she had a good time with the Apple family. She had also practically stuffed her face. You would think she'd have a bit more self-control. She was like Celestia with cake. Like mentor, like student.

"Hmm… There's supposed to be a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds…" Twilight looked up at the sky. There were still a bunch of the white puffy masses scattered about the sky.

"Well, she's not doing too good of a job, is she?" Remembering what happens now, I put my hooves around Twilight, and moved her a few feet backwards. She looked confused, but understood when she saw a rainbow blur fly by, only a few inches from her face. Instead of Twilight being hit, Rainbow wound up crashing into Spike, the two of them tumbling into a mud puddle. Rainbow stood up, covered in mud. She noticed she had crashed into the poor dragon, and giggled a little in response. Looking down at him, she lifted him up and out of the puddle. He shouted at her.

"What was that for?!" She just laughed a little more.

"Sorry, um, let me help you." Flying out of sight for a moment, Spike started to wipe some of the mud off of him. Rainbow came back with a dark cloud, and positioned it over Spike. He noticed it, and looked up.

"Huh? What are you-" She flew on top of it and started jumping up and down. Rain poured out of the bottom, rinsing all the mud off of him, but also soaking him in the process. "Annnd now I'm wet… great." She just laughed again.

"Oops, might have overdone that a bit… Umm… How bout this!" She flew around Spike, generating quite the windstorm, and a whirlwind of rainbow colors. "My own patented Rain-blow dry!" She landed, smirking a bit. "No no, there's no need to thank me." After getting a good look at Spike, I saw that he was indeed dry, but there was more than that. His scales were extremely shinny and polished, and glimmered in the sunlight. Looking down at himself he was amazed.

"Wow! Thanks! This must be the shiniest my scales have ever looked!" She just continued smirking. "Not a problem! After all, it was my fault that you got all muddy!" She walked up to him. "Name's Rainbow Dash! What's yours?" She held out her hoof, and received a Bro-hoof from Spike.

"I'm Spike!" He pointed to Twilight and I. "These are my friends, Twilight Sparkle and Leonidas Craft!" She looked at us.

"Nice to meetcha! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be practicing!" she went to fly off, but I grabbed her by the tail with my teeth. She looked down at me. "Hey! What gives?!" I let her go, and luckily, she didn't just take off. I nodded my head at Twilight.

"We were actually looking for you, Twilight needed to talk with you." Twilight looked at me with gratitude, and then turned to Rainbow.

"Thank you Leo. Now, Rainbow Dash, was it? We're here to check up on all of the preparations for the upcoming Celebration. Apparently, you're supposed to be clearing the clouds, but the sky is still full of the things." Rainbow nodded.

"I know, I'll do it as soon as I finish my practice!" Twilight didn't want her flying off, so she continued.

"Practice? For what?" Rainbow pointed at a poster on the wall, which portrayed a picture of the Wonderbolts, the most famous flying team in Equestria.

"The Wonderbolts! They're going to perform at the Celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show them my stuff!" Twilight got a sly look in her eyes.

"**The **Wonderbolts?" Rainbow sat on a cloud and closed her eyes.

"Yup!"

"The most talented fliers in ALL of Equestria?"

"That's them!"

"Pfft! Please! They'd never accept a Pegasus who can't keep the sky clear for one measly day!" Clever Twilight is Clever.

"Hey! I could clear this sky in TEN SECONDS FLAT!"

"Prove it." Rainbow's expression was one of determination to prove herself. Flying off at impossible speeds, she disintegrated every cloud in sight, and doing it with style. She managed to do it in exactly ten seconds. Twilight's face was one of complete shock and amazement. Rainbow landed on the bridge in front of us.

"Wha'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging!" She laughed when she saw Twilight's expression. "You should SEE the look on your face! Hah, you're a laugh Twilight Sparkle! I can't wait to hang out with you some more!" I hoofbumped her as she passed me. "You too Leo! Rainbow, OUT!" She flew off into the distance. Twilight was still in shock. I patted her on the shoulder with my hoof.

"Never underestimate Rainbow Dash. EVER." Shaking off her amazement, she just sighed and started walking towards town hall. We followed, Spike continuing to admire his scales.

* * *

As we entered the building, we took the time to appreciate the artfully done décor of the room. While I didn't exactly love Rarity, she was good at her job. "Decorations! Beautiful!"

"Yes, the Décor is coming along nicely! This will be quick! I'll be at the library in no time! Beautiful indeed!" Spike shook his head.

"Not the décor, her!" Spike pointed at Rarity, who was going through different ribbons, trying to figure out which one looked the best. Spike was completely love-struck. He started to check his appearance, making sure that he was presentable. Twilight rolled her eyes and walked over to the white unicorn.

"Good afternoon-" Rarity stopped her.

"Hold on a moment, I'm in the zone, as it were." After about two more ribbons, she found the one she liked. "Oh yes! Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why Rarity, you are a talent!" She turned to look at us. "Now, um, How can I help-" She stopped mid-sentence and gasped. I saw that she was looking at Spike, obviously admiring his scales. "Oh my! Those scales!" She ran over to him. "So luminescent! It's simply amazing! I must make you something to complement them!" Spike was in heaven. Twilight put her hoof in-between Rarity and Spike.

"No, that's quite alright, we're in a rush at the moment! We're just here to check on the decorations, and they seem to be in order, so we'll be going now! Rarity shook her head, and grabbed Spike by the hand.

"But I simply-" I grabbed Spike with my magic and held him firmly on my back. He struggled to break free, but I didn't let him.

"No, we actually have to go now, but thank you for the offer!" And I ran out of there faster than I've ever run before. Twilight followed behind me.

* * *

"Leo! Why'd you have to do that?! UGH!" He was pretty much pissed at me for dragging him away from Rarity. Twilight tried to calm him down.

"Shush, Casanova. What's the next thing on the list?" He grumbled a bit, and cleared his throat.

"Music, it's the last thing on the list, so I hope you're happy." From somewhere over the hill, we heard the sound of birds singing. Following the sound, we found Fluttershy conducting a chorus of birds. Twilight was about to jump out of the bush and say hello, but I stopped her.

"You should probably let me handle this." I walked slowly towards the yellow pony.

"Hello?" She jumped a bit and turned around to see me. It was obvious how scared she was of me, so I tried to reassure her. "Don't worry, I won't bite! I'm just here to check on the music! My name is Leonidas Craft. What's yours?" She whimpered a bit.

"Um… I'm Fluttershy…" I smiled to make her feel less nervous.

"That's a nice name." I think I got her to make a slight smile.

"T-th-anks… Yours is nice too…" Good, I think that while she's still a little scared, she'll at least talk. I turned around to look the bush.

"Hey guys! You can come out now!" The pony and dragon stepped out of the shrubbery. Fluttershy's eyes widened.

"A BABY DRAGON!" I was head-butted by Fluttershy so hard that I went flying. I landed straight on my face. I stood up, and dusted myself off. Looking towards the other ponies, I could see that Fluttershy was completely ecstatic at the chance to talk to a real dragon. "I've never seen a baby dragon before! He's so cute!" Spike smirked and looked at Twilight.

"Well, well, well!" He looked back to Fluttershy.

"Oh my! He talks! I didn't know dragons could talk!" She flew up into the air. "That is just so incredibly wonderful! I don't even know what to say!" I could see the smugness on Spike's face. Before he could say anything, he was lifted in the air by Twilight's magic, and onto her back.

"Well, in that case, we'd better be going!" She started walking off, so I shrugged and trotted next to her.

"Oh wait! Wait!" Fluttershy ran up to us, and followed behind. "What's his name?" Spike was happy to talk to her.

"My name's Spike!"

"Hi Spike! I'm Fluttershy! Oh wow! A talking dragon! What do dragons talk about?"

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Absolutely EVERYTHING!" Twilight groaned.

* * *

"And that's the story of my whole entire life!" Ironically, Spike finished talking just as we reached the library. "Well, up until today. You want to hear about today?" Fluttershy nodded.

"Oh yes!" He was stopped from saying anything when Twilight whirred around to face Fluttershy.

"I am SO sorry. How DID we get here so fast? This is where we'll be staying while in Ponyville, and my POOR baby dragon needs his sleep." He was about to protest, but I clamped my hoof over his mouth. I whispered in his ear.

"Don't you think talking for 2 hours straight is enough? Just GO with it." He sighed, and kept quiet. I looked back at Fluttershy. "It's been nice talking to you. We'll see ya later!" I opened the door and went in, knowing all too well what's waiting inside. Twilight and Spike followed. I could hear Twilight sigh in relief.

"I'm glad that's finally over… Now, where's the lights? Three, Two, one…

"SURPRISE!" The lights were turned on to reveal a crowd of ponies surrounding us. I think Twi's eye started to twitch, just a bit. Pinkie Pie hopped over to us, looking happy as can be.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you two! Were you surprised? Wereyawereya? Huh Huh Huh?" Twilight took a deep breath, calmed herself down, and looked at Pinkie.

"Yes! Very surprised! Libraries are supposed to be QUIET." Pinkie didn't catch her sarcasm, and just giggled.

"That's Silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet!? I mean, DUH. BORRING." Twilight just sighed and walked over to a punch bowl. Pinkie followed her and continued her rambling. Twilight grabbed a bottle of hot sauce with her mouth, keeping a pretty impassive expression the whole time. She poured herself a cup of it, and I'm still not sure if she did that on purpose, to have an excuse to get away from all the other ponies. I tapped her on the shoulder.

"Uh, Twi? You know that's hot sauce, right?" She just ignored me, put a straw in it, and started sipping it. I tuned back into Pinkie's speech, just in time to hear the end. All the ponies we'd met throughout the day had grouped together behind us.

"And now you have lots and lots of friends!" Twilight's cheeks started turn red, obviously from the sauce, and she jumped up into the air, her mane on fire in a cartoon like way. She then darted upstairs. I sighed, and turned to the five of them.

"Excuse me for a bit." I chased after Twilight.

* * *

I found Twi upstairs with a pillow over her head. She was trying to block out the music downstairs. I took a seat on the bed next to her.

"Why are you being like this?" Obviously I knew, but why not try to make her feel better? She looked up at me

"I just wanted to learn more about the elements of harmony, but I never got the chance. I'm worried, Leo. That those stories aren't just olden tales. That Nightmare Moon might actually be returning. I just don't know what to do. I feel like I have a responsibility, and that I'm failing to do it…" I rubbed her back and tried to comfort her, and she just buried her face in the pillow. Honestly, if I didn't know that everything turns alright, I'd probably feel the same way. We sat there for a while, not saying much. Eventually, I heard the door creak open behind us. Spike walked in.

"Come on guys! It's time to watch the sun rise!"

* * *

We stood in town hall, surrounded by every pony in town. All of them looked so excited, and I don't blame them. This is the first time that the Celebration has ever been held in Ponyville. Twilight and I stood side by side, waiting for it to start. We were both startled when a blur of pink appeared out of nowhere.

"Isn't this exciting!? Are you exited cause I'm excited I've never been so excited well except the time I saw you two walking into Ponyville and I went whaaaaaaoo but really, what can top that?!" My god, she's the exact definition of 'stream of consciousness'. Before she got the chance to continue talking, Fluttershy's birds started to sing. The ceremony was starting. I saw the spotlight focus on the Mayor of Ponyville.

"Fillies, and Gentlecolts. As mayor of Ponyville, it is my GREAT pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" All of the ponies in the building started to cheer. "In just a moment, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, on this, the longest day of the year!" I could see Twilight looking out the window at the moon. She had a worried expression on her face. "And now, it is my great honor to introduce the ruler of our land, the very pony who brings us the sun and the moon each and every day; the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!" The curtains opened to reveal…. Nothing. There was worried chatter among all ponies present. Rarity, looking backstage, confirmed that she was indeed… gone. Cue gasping ponies. Everyone in the room was shocked. Pinkie didn't really get how serious the situation was.

"Ooh, she's good…." Cue large cloud of black glitter. A black fog appeared where Celestia was supposed to be. A few terrified scrams resonated throughout the crowd. Annnd… Cue Nightmare Moon. The black glittery cloud swirled a bit, and formed itself into a pony, one the size of Celestia. I could almost feel fear resonating off of Twilight's body.

"Nightmare Moon!" Spike fainted dramatically. The princess of the night had a pretty smug look on her face.

"Ohhh, my beloved subjects! It's been so long since I've seen your **precious, little sun loving faces.** Rainbow was in full rage mode.

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH OUR PRINCESS?!" She tried to fly at Nightmare, but Applejack grabbed her by the tail with her teeth.

"Whoa there nelly!" Nightmare just laughed.

"Why? Am I not **royal** enough for you? Don't you **know **who I am?" Pinkie took this as an opportunity to speak.

"Ooh, ooh! More guessing games! Hokey Smokes! How bout… Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty!" Applejack shut her up by shoving an apple cupcake in her mouth.

"Does my crown no longer** count** now that I've been **imprisoned for a 1000 years?!** Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the **signs?!**" She was interrupted by Twilight.

"I did! And I know who you are! You're the Mare in the Moon! Nightmare Moon!" Collective gasp! Heh, watching this unfold is pretty funny. Nightmare smiled evilly.

"Well, well, well! Somepony who remembers me! Then you also know why I'm here!" Twilight cringed.

"You're here to… to…" She gulped. Nightmare laughed manically.

"Remember this day, little ponies, because it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last, FOREVER!

* * *

**DUN DUN DUN.**

**So yeah, each chapter will be the length of a single episode.**

**Don't forget to review!**


	3. Elements of Harmony: Part 2

**Well. This took a while to write. Damn, I think it might be even longer than the last one.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Elements of Harmony; Part 2

"Seize her! Only she knows where the princess is!" The guards present flew at Nightmare Moon. She glared at them.

"Stand back you FOALS!" Her eyes started to glow, and she struck the Pegasi down with bolts of lightning. They fell to the ground, and mass pandemonium broke out within the crowd. There were ponies running every which way, trying to get somewhere safe. Laughing manically, she enveloped herself in her starry mane and flew out the door. Rainbow finally broke free of AJ's grasp and pursued the wisp.

"COME BACK HERE!" I looked to Twilight, who had a determined look on her face. Without even saying anything to me, she charged out the door. I rolled my eyes, and chased after her.

* * *

Honestly, Twilight can run at pretty insane speeds when she has a reason. Panting, I finally reached the doors of the library, where I knew she'd gone. Walking in, I saw her franticly looking through book after book. "Elements, Elements, ELEMENTS… Uhgh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony!?" Even though she was talking to herself, I went to make a sarcastic remark. Before I could, I was pushed aside by a speeding rainbow blur and sent tumbling into one of the many book piles scattered around the floor.

"Ow…" Shaking off the dizziness I felt, I looked up to see Rainbow confronting Twilight.

"AND JUST WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY?" She was hovering closer and closer to Twi, causing her to back up nervously. "And how did YOU know about Nightmare Moon, HUH? Are you a SPY?" She was suddenly jerked backwards by another pony tugging on her tail, AJ. She sighed.

"Simmer down sally, she ain't no spy." Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy followed AJ inside. She looked at Twilight. "But she sure knows what's going on, don't cha Twilight?" All five of them stared at her intently. I walked up beside her and gave her an encouraging nudge. She sighed.

"I read all about the predictions of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her… But I don't know what they are; Where to find them; I don't even know what they do!"

"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide." I turned to see Pinkie across the room, looking at a book on one of the shelves. Twilight's eyes widened as she dashed over to her, knocking her aside in the process.

"Where did you find that?!" Pinkie happily bounced past her as she spoke.

"It was under E!" Twilight looked like she wanted to facehoof. I snorted to prevent laughing.

"Oh." She opened the book, and flipped through the pages till she found what she was looking for. "There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. The last known location of the five Elements was in the Ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. It is located in what is now known as the Everfree Forest." Twilight closed the book and put it back where it was. Looking at the other five ponies present, I saw that they were all shaking. I went to look back at Twilight, but she was already gone. I turned to Applejack.

"Can you guys lead me over to the entrance? We need to catch her before she goes charging in on her own." She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then nodded.

"Yes, we can't let her go in there on her own, she'll never make it by herself." She looked at the others. They looked like they had mostly gotten over their initial fear. "Come on ya'll, we've gotta hurry!" And with that, she dashed out the door, myself following close behind.

* * *

We caught her just as she made it to the entrance. She looked moderately frightened, and I probably should have thought about that before tapping her on the shoulder. She squealed, whipping around faster than I thought possible. I got a hoof in the face for not thinking that through. She kept her eyes shut, crouched over with her legs over her head.

"OW. Twi, it's just us." She slowly looked up, opening her eyes just enough to see me rubbing my aching cheek. Her eyes widened in realization, standing up and dusting herself off. She winced a bit when she saw what she had done.

"Oh… heh… um…. Sorry…?" She looked past me to see that the others had come with me here. She looked a bit confused.

"What are you all doing here?" Applejack smiled.

"Why do ya think? We're comin with ya!" Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I appreciate the offer, but no. This is something I'd rather do on my own." AJ just continued smiling as she walked past Twi towards the entrance.

"No can do sugarcube! I ain't about to let any friend of ours go into THAT spooky forest alone!" The others followed behind her. "We're stickin to you like caramel on a candy apple!" Pinkie grinned.

"ESPECIALLY if there's candy apples in there!" She happily hopped over to follow the group. Twilight sighed. Only she and I remained. She looked at me.

"Let me guess; you're coming too." I laughed and ruffled her mane with my hoof.

"Twi, I'm Celestia's student too. This is my responsibility as much as it is yours." I gave her a small hug. "Plus, after all this time of knowing you, you're like a little sister to me! It's my duty to protect you." I gave her a cheesy grin before trotting into the forest to catch up with the rest of them.

* * *

We walked through the forest, the girls chatting with each other to fill the silence. "So… none of you have been in here before?" Rarity shook her head.

"Heavens no! Just look at it! It's dreadful!"

"And it ain't natural; folks say it don't work the same as Equestria." Twilight looked at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow took this as an opportunity to have some fun.

"Nopony knows… You know why?" She slowly took steps towards Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy. Knowing what happens next, I moved a good twenty feet away from the girls. AJ scolded her.

"Rainbow! Quit it!" She ignored AJ and continued on with her prank. The three other ponies backed up nervously.

"Cause anypony who's ever come in… Has never… come… OUT!" The three of them jumped out of fear. Of course, just after Rainbow finished her sentence, the floor of the cliff broke off, sending the four flightless ponies helplessly tumbling down the steep slope towards their doom. Luckily, I had stepped just far enough away to avoid falling. Dash and Fluttershy raced to save whoever they could. In the meantime, I ran down the slope as quickly as I could without slipping myself. I used my magic to help keep a foothold. The two Pegasi had managed to grab Rarity and Pinkie, and Applejack had grabbed onto a branch with her teeth. Twilight almost slid off the edge, but had managed to hold onto the edge. AJ saw that she was about to fall, and let go of the branch, slowly sliding to where Twilight was about to fall. Before she did, AJ grabbed her by the hooves, saving her. Applejack almost fell in the process, but I used my magic to grab her by the back hooves. She gave me a thankful smile, and then turned her attention back to Twi.

"Applejack! What do I do?!" Even with all her strength, there was no was AJ could pull Twilight back up. Glancing up, she saw Rainbow flying into position under Twi. She looked back down at the purple unicorn.

"Let go." Twilight looked at AJ like she was insane.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" She shook her head.

"No I ain't. I promise you'll be safe."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

"Now listen here! What I'm sayin to you is the **honest** truth. Let go, and you'll be safe." One plummeting and screaming Twilight later, we sat at the bottom, Rainbow bragging about how she saved Twi.

"And once Pinkie and Rarity were safe, WOOSH, me and Fluttershy loop de looped around, and WHAM! Caught ya right in the nick of time!" Twilight sighed.

"Yes Rainbow, I was there, and I'm very grateful, but we gotta-" She was interrupted by the roar of a very large manticorn. "A MANTICORN!" It blocked our way through, and looked quite angry. "We've got to get past-" I covered her mouth with my hoof. Before any of them could just rush in and get themselves hurt, I'm going to stop this right here.

"All of you, wait." Five ponies and one large manticorn looked at me with puzzled expressions. I turned around to face a small yellow Pegasus. "Fluttershy? If you would." She seemed to get what I was hinting at, and nodded gratefully. She floated down to the ground, and trotted up to the manticorn. It looked down at her, and started to get angry again. It went to smack her out of the way with its gigantic paws. The ponies beside me all gasped and turned away, expecting the worst.

"Shh, it's Ok." Surprised, the manticorn looked down at her, not moving. She came closer, nuzzling its other paw in a motherly way. It calmed down, holding out its hand to reveal a huge thorn stuck directly in the center. It whimpered. Fluttershy looked at it with concern. "Oh, you poor, poor little baby." Rainbow looked at her incredulously.

"Little?"

"Now, this might hurt for jusssst a second." She pulled out the thorn with her teeth. The beast responded by lifting her up in its arms. It released a loud roar of pain. The others watched with fear.

"FLUTTERSHY!" To their surprise, it started licking her and purring in happiness. The worry that they were feeling dissolved into relief. The threat gone, we walked past the cooing beast, who was placing Fluttershy down. I stopped and waited for her to catch up. She smiled at me.

"Thank you for stopping them. I just didn't want anypony to get hurt."

"It's no problem. That's what friends do, right?" She nodded, still smiling. I looked ahead, and noticed that the others were getting farther away by the second. I nudged her. "Come on, we don't want to get separated. Let's hurry up."

"R-right." We quickened our pace to catch up with the group.

* * *

After we'd managed to catch up with the five other ponies, all seven of us had continued our trek deeper and deeper into the forest. Rarity wouldn't stop complaining about everything. "Ugh! My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck!" I rolled my eyes.

"Deal with it. It's a forest. What else do you expect?" As we continued to walk, it got darker and darker, almost to the point of pitch blackness. "There, now you don't have to see anything. Happy?" I used my horn to illuminate our immediate surroundings. We still managed to continually bump into each other. I heard a loud squish. AJ groaned.

"Oh, wait. I think I stepped in somthin." Almost immediately afterwards, a loud squeal was heard from Fluttershy. Applejack looked at her. "It's just mud." Turning around, she noticed what the yellow pony was actually screaming about. The tree behind her had a dimly lit face on it, with a gaping mouth and gigantic spiky teeth. All of the girls started to look around, seeing more of these evil looking trees. Cue screaming ponies. They backed into a circle, screaming. I just looked at them like they were crazy, but didn't say anything. They finally stopped when laughter was heard. Pinkie stood in front of one of the trees, giggling. She made strange faces, as if to mimic the tree. This only caused her to laugh more.

"PINKIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? RUN!" I looked at Twi with a blank expression.

"You do know they're just trees, right?" I looked at the rest of them. "Please tell me that I'm not the only one who realizes this?" I was ignored. Pinkie looked back at us.

"Oh guys, don't you see?" Somehow; don't ask me, because I don't have ANY CLUE; music started to play out of thin air. Pinkie started to sing.

"When I was a little filly and the sun was going dowwwwwn,"

"Tell me she's not…" She appeared out of nowhere, startling all of us.

"The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frowwwwwwn," Rarity sighed.

"She is."

_One song about laughter later…_

Even though Pinkie's song was completely ridiculous, I couldn't help but laugh along with the rest of the girls. After we finally pulled ourselves together enough to continue on, we started walking again. Still giggling, none of us noticed the raging river in our way until we had almost fallen into it.

"Huh. Well, who's going first?" I could swear that Pinkie was about to volunteer, but she was stopped before she could by a loud wailing noise coming from a little down the river. Going to investigate, we found the source of the noise. Flailing around in the river was a gigantic sea serpent, crying and despairing. Twilight walked up to him.

"Excuse me sir, um, why are you crying?" He looked at us.

"Oh, I don't know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of black smoke just **whisks** by and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off! And now I look simply horrid!" He collapsed backwards, starting to cry again, and splashing the seven of us with a wave of water in the process. I shielded myself with my magic to prevent my clothes from getting wet.

"Oh give me a break…"

"That's what all this fuss is about?" Rarity gasped.

"Why of COURSE it is! How CAN you be so insensitive?" She walked up to the despairing serpent. "Why just look at him, such lovely luminescent scales." He sniffled and looked at her.

"I know!"

"And your expertly quaffed mane!"

"Oh I know, I know!"

"Your fabulous manicure!"

"It's so true!"

"All ruined without your beautiful moustache!" He covered his head with his arms and wailed.

"It's all true! I'm hideous!"

"I cannot allow such a crime against fabulocity go uncorrected!" She came closer to him and ripped off one of his scales. He cried in pain.

"What did you do that for!?" She raised it up like a sword, and used it to cut off her tail. The serpent fell over in an overdramatic fashion. Rarity used her magic to lift up the sheared tail, and combine it with the serpent's cut mustache. He looked at it and was overjoyed. "Oh! My Moustache! It's wonderful!" Rarity smiled.

"You look smashing!" Twilight walked over to her.

"Oh, Rarity! Your beautiful tail!" She closed her eyes and turned towards us.

"It's fine my dear! Short tails are in this season! And anyway, It'll grow back…" Twilight looked over at the river, and noticed it had calmed down.

"Oh, we can cross now!" She started to wade across, but was lifted into the air by the serpent. She now stood on his back.

"Allow me!" He made a bridge across for us, so that we didn't have to get wet. She smiled, and hopped across, the rest of us following close behind.

* * *

After a boring half hour of walking, our destination was finally in sight. Twilight gasped, and smiled. "There it is! The ruins that hold the Elements of Harmony! We made it!" She started to gallop towards it.

"Hold on Twi! Wait for us!" We ran after her. She turned back to look at us while still going.

"We're almost ther-WHOAAAAAA!" Looking at us, she didn't notice that the bridge was out. Rainbow saved her from falling off by grabbing her tail.

"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" I laughed a little at her remark, but was silenced by Twi's glare. The rest of the group caught up to us as we stood at the edge of the cliff.

"Now what?" Rainbow just looked at Pinkie.

"Duh." She flapped her wings a little to get her point across.

"Oh yeah!" She flew down into the mist, grabbed the ropes, and went to go and tie them to the poles on the other side. I turned to Fluttershy.

"Hey, do you think you could carry me over there? I need to make sure of something."

"Um… I can try…" She put her arms under mine, and flapped her wings as hard as she could, managing to get about two feet off the ground. She slowly started to go forward, and I tried to use my magic to make it easier on her. By the time we made it to the other side, the Shadowbolts had already made their offer to Rainbow. Fluttershy fell to the ground, panting from exhaustion. I dashed over to Rainbow.

"Rainbow!" She turned to look at me. She seemed confused.

"Leo? How did you get over here?"

"Fluttershy carried me, but that's not what I wanted to tell you. Don't listen to them! They're lying! They aren't even real!" She raised her eyebrow, and went to say something, but was cut off by the lead Shadowbolt.

"No! Shut up! Let her make her own decision!" She crashed into me at high speed, causing me to tumble backwards, nearly off the edge. I managed to grab a hold of the string she hadn't tied yet. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Leo! I'm coming!" She went to come grab me, but the Shadowbolt stepped in front of her.

"NO! It's us, or him!" She just pushed the grey Pegasus aside.

"ARE YOU CRAZY? HE'S GONNA DIE! WHATS WRONG WITH YOU?!" I lost my grip on the rope and started to plummet into the foggy depths. Just when I thought it was all over, I felt something grab me by the arm. I stopped falling, and instead did just the opposite. I looked up, and saw a struggling Rainbow Dash pulling me up from my certain doom. She dropped me back on the side where the girls still sat, concerned. She landed, panting. The girls rushed over to us.

"Leo? Rainbow? What happened? The fog was too thick to see through!" I looked at them and gave them the short version of what had gone on. They were surprised that any pony would go so far as to try and kill another pony. After they had finally calmed down, Rainbow finally went and fixed the bridge, and we were able to cross. I can't help but think of how close I was to dying. I need to make sure that never happens again.

* * *

"Come on Twilight, Isn't this what you've been waitin for?" We had finally made it. We stood inside the ruins, looking at the things we'd come so far to get.

"The Elements of Harmony! We found them!" Fluttershy and Dash flew up to the stone orbs, and lifted them one by one down to where Twilight stood. "Careful… Careful!"

"One, two, three, four… there's only five!"

"Where's the sixth?"

"The book said that when the five are present, a spark will occur to make the sixth one appear." Rarity looked at Twi.

"But what IS the sixth element?" I answered on instinct.

"Magi-" I was stopped by Twilight, who clamped a hoof over my mouth. Applejack looked at the two of us suspiciously.

"Wait Twi, let him finish! He was sayin something!" I shook my head.

"Nope, I wasn't saying anything. Nothing at all. Can we move on?" AJ walked closer to me. She stared right into my eyes.

"I can tell you're lying. It's beyond obvious. What are ya hidin from us?" Damn Element of Honesty. Dash intervened, pushing AJ away from me.

"Give the guy a break AJ. He'll tell us at some point. It doesn't need to be now." Applejack continued to look at me for a moment longer, and then sighed.

"Fine." She looked back to Twilight. "What were ya sayin Twi?"

"Alright. Stand back, I'm going to try something, and I don't know if it will work." AJ nodded.

"Come on ya'll, give her some space, she needs to concentrate." She led the others out the door, but I stayed with Twilight. She didn't protest, so I guess she was Ok with it. She leaned over in concentration, and her horn started to glow brightly. Suddenly, a night blue wisp flew past me, pushing me back a few feet. It started to form a whirlwind around the elements, creating a tornado. Twilight was so busy concentrating that she hadn't even noticed.

"TWILIGHT!" She opened up her eyes.

"Huh?" She realized what was happening. "Aah! THE ELEMENTS!" She looked at me. "Leo!" I nodded. We both jumped into the whirlwind just as it disappeared. I felt the same feeling I get every time I use Teleportation magic. Everything was black for a few moments, and then I found myself somewhere else. I was a little dizzy, as a long teleportation tends to do that to you. Shaking it off, I found myself standing next to Twilight. She stood there, in a stance ready to charge. I stood up and mirrored her stance. Nightmare stood across the room, in possession of the Elements. She looked at Twi incredulously.

"You're kidding." Twilight pawed at the ground. "You're kidding, right?" Her horn started to glow, and she charged straight at the Lunar Mare. I didn't really have a choice but to do the same. Nightmare growled, and then proceed to charge straight at us as well. Just before Twi and Nightmare collided, Twilight disappeared, and then reappeared on the throne, next to the Elements. Nightmare was confused for a moment, which gave me the opportunity to take out my excess anger. I leaped into the air, and slugged her right in the nose. She staggered back a step or two, only dazed for a second or two. She then turned to face me, pure rage in her eyes. I felt magic envelop my entire body, as I was lifted in the air, and then thrown against the wall like a ragdoll. Unimaginable pain surged through every part of my body, as I fell to the floor. I didn't pass out, but I thought I might at any second. My hearing went in and out, and my mind tried to convince my body that it, in fact, had not died, and could stand up. When I finally managed, I saw Twilight standing in the center of the room, her head down, and Nightmare with the shattered elements at her feet. I put every ounce of effort into getting over to Twilight. My hearing came back just in time to hear the voices of ponies that I was more than overjoyed to hear. Rainbow, AJ, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy rushed into the room, wearing concerned expressions. Fluttershy saw me limping over to Twilight, and came over to help me. I think she said something, but I wasn't really listening to what ANYONE was saying at the moment. She put my arm around her shoulder and brought me over to where the others were. I sat down next to Twilight. Not trying to move anymore, I could actually focus on hearing what she was saying. She was coming to the end of her speech, the element shards circling around the five ponies behind us. Nightmare was starting to look worried. "You still don't have the sixth element! The spark didn't work!" Twilight shook her head.

"But it did! A different type of spark! I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you. How much I cared about you! The spark ignited inside me! The moment that I realized that you all… ARE MY FRIENDS!" I was temporarily blinded by a white light. Looking up, I saw the sixth element floating above Twilight's head. It was so mesmerizing that I almost didn't notice the same element floating above MY HEAD. Twilight looked at me in complete and utter confusion. "Wait, why are there SEVEN ELEMENTS?!"

"Twi, just go on with what you were saying, we can figure this out later." She seemed to be deep in thought, but she pushed it aside and continued on with what she was saying. "You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth… and I suppose the seventh element; The Elements of Magic!" I watched as the shards circling the five ponies behind us formed into jeweled necklaces, fitted onto each of them. I felt a huge power rise up inside me, one that I couldn't control. I closed my eyes, and felt something being placed on my head. I passed out.

* * *

I awoke to an aching sensation in my head. Surprisingly, that was the only thing that ached. I was able to stand on my own, and all of the pain seemed to have just vanished. "Uugh… My head…" I turned back to the girls to see that they were starting to come to. Applejack looked from pony to pony, examining them.

"Everypony alright?" She then looked at me. "Especially you, Leo. What happened while we weren't here? How'd ya get hurt so badly? And how do ya seem better now?"

"I suppose in the same way Rarity's tail grew back." Fluttershy looked at Rarity.

"Oh, rarity, it's so lovely!" The white unicorn seemed to barley contain her glee.

"I know! I'll never part with it again!" I tapped her on the shoulder. "Hmm?" I pointed to her chest.

"I think she was talking about the necklace, not your tail…" Fluttershy nodded.

"It looks just like your cutie mark!" After close examination she smiled, and pointed to Fluttershy's necklace.

"So does yours!" Looking down at it, she gave a small gasp of glee. All the girls did the same, examining their newly acquired piece of jewelry, so I figured I should do the same. Lifting it off my head, I saw that I now was in possession of a smallish crown, about the size of Twilight's tiara. Unlike the other elements, I saw that it was a night blue color, instead of gold. The gem, like the girls' elements mirrored that of my cutie mark, a pink six pointed star. When I was done, I placed it back on my head. Twilight looked over at me.

"Now that the crisis is over, we need to get the most pressing matter at hand… How can there be seven elements of harmony?"

"I think I might have an answer to that." I know that voice anywhere. Looking over at the window, I saw that the night had finally ended, and daytime had arrived. A bright ball of light came in through the open hole, and I had to close my eyes to prevent blindness. When I opened them back up, there stood none other than the Princess of the Sun. Every pony in the room bowed down in respect, excluding myself and Twilight. That kind of stopped for us a while ago. Honestly, I don't think I ever did. The purple unicorn's face grew into a big smile.

"Princess Celestia!" She went over to her, and nuzzled her affectionately. I just gave her a smile and a small wave.

"Hello, my faithful students. I see that everything turned out alright." Twilight looked at the Princess.

"But you said that it was just an old pony's tale!" The Celestial Mare shook her head.

"I said that you needed to make some friends, nothing more." She looked over at me. "Leo, I know why both you and Twilight are the Element of Magic, at least I'm pretty sure that I do." I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" She nodded.

"Yes, though I have to do something before I tell you." Her horn started to glow, and released a shockwave in all directions. Everything around us started to slow down. I saw a falling drop of water freeze in midair. Celestia, Twilight, and I seemed to be the only things unaffected. Twilight looked back and forth, extremely surprised and confused. Her mouth was wide open. She turned to Celestia.

"Did you just… stop time?!" The Princess smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I stopped the flow of time in a somewhat large radius around us. I don't think it would be good for Leo's secret to get out, do you?" Twilight understood.

"Good point…" Celestia looked back at me.

"Now, as I was going to say; The reason that both of you are the element of magic is because, well; simply put, you were actually born a pony." My eyes widened.

"WHAT?! That's not possible!" She shook her head.

"But it is. You were born as a pony, and furthermore, the Element of Magic. You were originally supposed to be the Element of Magic, but somepony; I don't know who, transported you to the human world when you were only a foal. Because the element no longer existed on this plane, the spirit had to find a new bearer. Only extremely powerful unicorns can possess such power, so it took home in the other most powerful pony in Equestria; Twilight. When Twilight earned her Cutie Mark and her true power was fully released, by some inane chance, you wound up back in our world. The cutie mark that both of you have represents the Element. The reason that each of you only has a mark on one side of your flank means that each of you holds half of the Element inside of you." Wow… Well, this is news to me. I looked at Twilight, who seemed to be shocked into silence. As I turned back to Celestia, I noticed that something was wrong. She looked to be in pain.

"Celestia, is something wrong? You don't look so good." She winced, before turning to me.

"It's nothing serious, the spell that I'm using takes an almost overwhelmingly large amount of energy to sustain, and it's taking a toll on my strength. I'm not sure that I can keep this up for even a minute more. When I resume the flow of time, I'll give your friends an explanation that doesn't include your past." Even though my mind was still reeling from what she had just told me, I decided to just push it off till later, like I tend to do with most things that hurt my head to think about. I nodded to her. She closed her eyes, and a bright flash of light forced me to close mine as well. When I opened them, I saw that the flow of time had resumed. Five confused ponies were looking back and forth at the three of us, not understanding how we were in completely different places than we were less than a second ago. Celestia laughed at their confusion, and then proceeded to calm them down. She explained to them the same things she had told Twilight and I, excluding a few details about myself. They nodded as she spoke; glad to have some sort of explanation for all of this. Not a minute after she was done, we heard a loud moaning noise come from across the room. Turning my head, I saw that Luna was starting to wake up. She opened her eyes, taking in the scene before her. She looked confused.

"Wha-What happ-" Her eyes widened in realization. All the memories of Nightmare Moon flooded through her head. She struggled to get up. Celestia walked closer to her.

"Luna, I-"She was cut off as Luna rushed full force into her older sister. The ponies besides me stood in a readied stance, prepared to protect the Princess if needed. But the sight they saw wasn't what they had expected. Luna had her forelegs wrapped around Celestia, head buried in her chest. And she was crying. Celestia was in shock at first, but then relaxed, and rubbed her sister's head in a comforting way. The mane six just stood there, looking on both in shock and confusion. After a little bit, Luna started to quiet down, and she looked up at her older sister.

"I'm so sorry… For everything… this is all my fault… I let the anger and darkness consume me… I could have fought it off, but out of petty bitterness, I instead embraced it. A monster was born. It took control of me, locked my consciousness away in a pitch black void. I've seen what it did, what it tried to do, and how much hatred it had for everything. It would even kill ponies to get what it wanted. I had no control over what it did with my power, my body, none at all. I sat there… for so long… Time itself lost its meaning… In that void, there was no light, no ponies, just… nothingness. I've learned from my time there. I still love my night, but eternal darkness is not something that I consider good anymore. The day is just as important as the night, and vice versa. I promise, on my life if I have to, that this will never happen again. Just… please… forgive me…" She closed her eyes. Celestia looked at her with sadness, so much sadness. She nuzzled Luna affectionately, looking at her with loving eyes.

"Luna, I could never hate you… no matter what you do… you're my sister, and nothing will change that. Of course I forgive you." She returned Luna's embrace. Looking at the ponies next to me, I could see that they were all smiling, happy for the two Celestial Princesses. Pinkie pulled out a handkerchief, as she started to cry. Hopefully they were tears of happiness, but you never know with Pinkie. No less than a second later, her disposition changed entirely, becoming her bright happy self.

"Hey! You know what this calls for?" I grinned, and the others just smiled and rolled their eyes. "A PARTY!"

* * *

We had made our way out of the Everfree forest, and had been given a warm welcome as we arrived back in Ponyville. Most were confused about Princess Luna, as most ponies didn't even know that Celestia had a sister, but she was happily accepted after a brief explanation. Pinkie had somehow arranged the party in less than a few seconds, which, even for Pinkie, is completely baffling. I was currently sitting at a table with the mane six, eating a delicious slice of cake. The party had ended a few hours ago, and we had headed over to Sugarcube Corner to just be alone. Ponies kept flocking up to us trying to ask questions about random things, and both Fluttershy and I had been getting nervous. I don't mind being around people, but being the center of attention wasn't on the top of my priority list. We had rushed over to the candy decorated building, and ran inside. Pinkie had locked the door, and eventually the crowd had dispersed. Now, we were just taking an opportunity to relax. I was tired beyond belief, and the others weren't doing too much better. We'd been up for a good two days straight at this point.

"So… what do you guys want to do now? I, for one, just want to go home and sleep." I shoveled another piece of cake into my mouth. "If any of you have a better idea, I'm all ears." They looked back and forth at each other. None of them said anything, so I took the silence as a no. "Well then, I'll be heading over to the library." I yawned. "See you guys later." I stood up, and walked out.

* * *

Opening the door to the building in the tree, I flicked on the lights. The place was sparkling clean, despite the crazy party that had gone on earlier. I shrugged. Pinkie probably used her logic defying powers to clean it up. And I'm not going to question the ways of the pink pony, just be appreciative. I slowly worked my way upstairs, into the bedroom. There was only one, with two beds placed inside. Twilight's stuff sat on the floor next to hers. I didn't have anything to bring in the first place, save for the clothes on my back, so I wasn't surprised to see nothing beside my bed. I slipped off my sweatshirt and jeans, leaving on only my white t-shirt. While I wear clothes in public, I don't mind being undressed when I go to bed. After I had folded them and placed them on a small side table. I plopped myself right onto the comfy fabric of the bed. So… Tired… I drifted off, no more than five seconds after lying down.

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